Afghan Girl Roboticists Denied US Visas (bbc.com)

Three anonymous readers share a similar report: An all-girl team of roboticists will watch their creations compete in a US competition via Skype after being denied visas to enter the country. President Trump recently ordered a ban on travel from six Muslim-majority countries, but Afghanistan was not included on the list. Teams from Iran, Sudan and Syria -- which are on the list -- did manage to enter the country. The six-member team watched their ball-sorting robot compete in Washington DC via a video link from their hometown of Herat, in western Afghanistan. "We still don't know the reason why we were not granted visas, because other countries participating in the competition have been given visas," Fatemah Qaderyan, 14, told Reuters.

Comments

Visitor visas are fickle.

[Anonymous Coward]

Visitor visas are weird creatures. Even under ideal circumstances, with good jobs and excellent ties to their native country, about half of them are denied (or more) at certain embassies. It's entirely at the mercy of the consular officer, and this probably had nothing to do with the travel ban. It was probably a CO being skittish.

Re:Visitor visas are fickle.

[bruce_the_loon]

The Gambian team was also denied entry, and they're also not an at-risk country. More than 160 countries are taking part and only two were rejected, agreed that it is most likely a local consulate thing.

Re: Trump Ban? Maybe Not

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly. The consular officer probably had concerns about them not returning to Afghanistan (or perhaps their chaperone) and that is then most likely explanation. Visitor visas are not a right, contrary to what many in the tech community seem to think. They require a finding by the consular officer that the visitor has sufficient ties to their native country that they will return to it at the end of their stay. A child with no job, parents with a less than ideal situation, in a devastated country, would have a hard time establishing this, and it gets worse if they are bringing their parents as a chaperone. Sadly, people get denied visitor visas everyday. It is part of life in a non-visa waiver country. It isn't just muslim countries.

Do we have to blame Trump?

[91degrees]

President Trump recently ordered a ban on travel from six Muslim-majority countries, but Afghanistan was not included on the list.

So it has nothing to do with Trump's ban on those countries has it?

US immigration is a law unto itself and usually pretty arbitrary. I realise a lot of the world's problems are Trump's fault, but not all of them are.

Re:Do we have to blame Trump?

[Anonymous Coward]

They aren't blaming it on Trump. That line is in there to make sure the reader knows it's not because of the ban. Take that line out and you'd be complaining it isn't in there giving the impression that it is blaming Trump.

For a person that complains that others are easily offended you are quite easy to offend. I bet you were one of the flaming Trumpsters that got upset when NPR tweeted the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, because it promoted revolution against Trump.

Re: No Fucks To Give

[Anonymous Coward]

So the 6 month total ban Obama put in place on any visa from Iraq never happened? Oh wait, you're about as wrong as Trump is orange.

Re:American Xenophobia

[aicrules]

This is at least the fourth story I've seen posted here where the "muslim ban" is referenced while in the same article it specifically states that the travel ban has nothing to do with why this happened. Such a BS biased tactic on the part of the editing staff both here and at the various sites that reported this.

Re:American Xenophobia

[Anonymous Coward]

You're not wrong, I just don't know why you're singling out Democrats and the Left. Republicans and the Right are at least as full of shit.

Or do you just not ever speak ill of the home team?